Polishing
by Samsquatch67
Summary: Merlin and Mordred polishing shoes. (Co-written with VanillaJ1967. Disclaimer: We own nothing.)


**A/N: A fast oneshot. Enjoy!**

Mordred stood in the armory, preparing for the morning's training session. He checked and rechecked everything. His sword, dagger, shield, armor, and boots were all in place. Everything was as it should be. The knights would meet Arthur in the training field to practice their skills. Mordred was glad he was included... not only in this, but in Camelot. It was something he could never repay-being allowed to stay in the kingdom, and fight alongside Arthur

The thoughts were interrupted by the rowdy voices of other knights. Percival was the first through the door, and he went straight for the training swords. Gwaine's path was not so direct. He grinned at Mordred, nodding a strand of hair out of his eye. "Sir Mordred."

"Sir Gwaine?" Mordred nodded to the other knight. Light eyes stared into the taller knight's eyes. There was always a childish mischief there that Mordred never saw when he looked in the mirror. He wondered at such things... perhaps he could've been like them, had things been different.

"You know, you are already excelling in training -" Gwaine turned in a circle, walking slowly, his expression one as though deciding on some matter of life-or-death, "I believe the next lesson is stamina. Shoe polishing."

Mordred tried to hide the disappointment behind a mask of curiosity. "Ah, shoe... polishing?"

"Yes. Shoe polishing." Gwaine moved to the corner of the room, picking up various polishing materials and handing them to the youngest knight, along with a pair of scuffed boots.

Mordred took them, trying not to drop any of the polish, brushes, or a boot. Matters were only made worse when Percival chuckled and dropped his boots on the pile, as did Leon, and several others. Mordred was buried in stinky, worn, muddy leather. He sighed and nodded. "I'll finish as quickly as I can."

"Good man," Gwaine clapped him on the back, still grinning as they filed back out the door.

At the action from the other knight, several shoes spilled from the pile. Mordred sighed and pondered how he would go about picking them up without dropping the others. It was going to be a long day.

Merlin moved through the corridors, already annoyed by the time he saw the knights bustling past with their normal arrogant bravado. "Merlin!" Gwaine called, his spirits seeming even higher than normal. The warlock bit back a sigh. He carried Arthur's sword, and laundry, and boots. And, he was supposed to meet Arthur in the field to train with the knights. Or more like, to be a moving target.

Several friendly hands reached out, and he wasn't sure if they meant to help with his load or to pat him on the back as a greeting. Either way. He dodged through them, only turning to look back at the other men after he had weaved through - "Sorry, things to do. Tell Arthur he needn't wait for me." Even his smile was as irritated as he felt.

He jogged, desperately trying to hold onto a tunic that threatened to slip onto the floor. He would wash the laundry after polishing the sword, and boots. He barged into the armory, using one foot to keep the door open as he all-but hopped inside the room.

Mordred flinched, turning and seeing Merlin. He tried for a smile. It was half-hearted at best. "Merlin." He nodded a greeting as he spoke the other's name. Then he began trying to pick up the fallen shoes. If he stacked the ones he still had on the bench... he could pick up the others. Yes. That was a good plan. He headed for the bench.

For once, Merlin didn't feel the drowning weight of destiny as he saw the man. For one, he couldn't actually see over Arthur's dirty clothes, and secondly they seemed to be in similar situations. Merlin used his foot once again, only this time to slam the door shut - perhaps harder than required. Carelessly he dropped the clothing on the floor. It wasn't as if they could get any less-clean.

Modred finally managed to get all the boots on the bench. He picked up the others, set them down with the previous mountain, and stared... mortified. "Merlin..." He looked up. "They all look the same. They're the same. Whose is whose?"

Merlin set the sword down on the table that Mordred sat at. He moved around to the other side, his hands clenched. "I stopped trying to decide that a while ago. They have never noticed the difference. But Percival's are these." Merlin picked up a rather large pair of shoes.

Mordred smiled. "That makes sense... But Merlin..." he held up another pair. "These are Gwaine's. For future reference... it's the smell. Somehow, it's worse than the others."

Merlin cracked a smile. He sat on the edge of the bench, picking up Arthur's shoes. He rubbed off mud with a cloth before using the polish. He stopped only to roll his sleeves up, then went back to it, one hand inside of the shoe while the other scrubbed the cloth against its surfaces.

Mordred sat on the opposite side of the bench, picking up a pair of boots. He started following Merlin's movements, doing the same thing he did, and hoping to get a similar result. He'd never polished shoes.

"Circles," Merlin spoke, though he didn't look away from his own work.

"Oh, yes... of course. Thank you, Merlin." So, he moved the cloth in circles, trying to smear on polish in the correct amount. It was a mess.

"It gets easier." Merlin turned just slightly, just enough for Mordred to see more clearly what he was doing.

Mordred nodded, trying for another smile. It felt more real this time. "I hope so... I've many more. The smell-does that get any easier to ignore?"

Merlin only continued polishing. There were days when he thought they could actually be friends - yet, he'd learned fairly quickly since his time in Camelot that destiny was just that - destiny. And it never changed, it always managed to turn out the same way, no matter how hard or what he tried.

Mordred polished shoes in silence, noting that some of them looked suspiciously stained when he'd finished them. He muttered to himself that they better not complain, after all... if this was such an important task, why would they not do if themselves?

 **I am not even entirely sure what this is, but, VanillaJ and I cowrote it and here it is and... We hope you enjoyed, thank you for reading - feedback is always appreciated. God bless!**


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